I spent the last 4 days finishing SCRIPTing an URGENT and IMPORTANT compte-rendu for my "!%$$!+ school. My friends had left me about 10 pages of illegible manuscript (tiny writing, light lead pen) to type in during the weekend, and then had "forgotten" to prepare an introduction and conclusion. But then I cannot complain since they had done all the work alone, leaving me only the SCRIPTing and GDDMing work to do (which was what we had mutually agreed on -- the only one that could SCRIPT the stuff was me, and it will probably raise the mark by 40%). And as you might know I am wasting an important amount of time on the go-learn-COBOL-in-Rennes-next-year problem. I will reply when I have finished processing my reader, cleaning up my mind, and when I will be sure that there is no more LSTSRV-L mail waiting on BITNIC-EARNET -- I want to take all objections and criticisms into account. But - I have not been hit by a truck. I have also started some paper-thinking on the topic: an important move will have to be made, and it must be done the right way with the protocols designed in the morning with a clear mind, not at 11pm as I usually do. I will try to find a way to keep this backbone living, a RELIABLE and SURE way (not just a short-term fix), even if it means apparent stasis of the backbone during a few weeks (or maybe even a little more). The backbone is presently working more or less acceptably, and can remain in this state for a little while if needed. As for those people who sent me notes of the kind Jeff was referring to (eg "When will you stop playing with your toy (* LISTSERV *) and start some real productive work on the backbone????" -- this was from a user of course, a postmaster uttering these words would have received a nuclear network bomb of course)... NO, they are not the cause of the 'crisis'. But YES, they made me realize that I was maybe devoting too much of my time to people who did not deserve it and were not even grateful. When I was in Heidelberg with Berthold he often told me "Why don't you drop support for this node?" - "If I were you I would not allow them to run LISTSERV at all unless (insert here whatever 'duty' they failed to abide by)", etc. The NETSERV backbone is working perfectly, and the LISTSERV one is not. Because NETSERV is maintained by the author himself, on a regular basis, remotely. And because all NETSERV owners have a far deeper commitment to the backbone than the average LISTSERV owner. Now I must say that I *hate* 'dropping' people and leaving them in deep sh*t when they need help, even if they DO deserve it. I prefer not to provide any service than to have to provide it only to the "good guys who do their homework correctly and in time". I am afraid I will have to change my ethics and become more intolerant towards the "bad guys" who find time to write me a 3-pages note describing the 293 reasons why they could not update LISTSERV yet, maybe next week, which takes obviously at least 5 times the time it would take them to perform a CARD LOAD. Now please stop the "Eric we all love you" bullsh*t. It makes me feel the same way I felt when I left our Studies Director's office after pleading for my cause during 1 hour. And that's not a feeling I will have forgotten next week. Eric